Ronald Brak

Because not everyone can be normal.

Friday, March 25, 2016

I'd Need A Tesla To Out Accelerate These!


Thursday, February 18, 2016

C., I'm begging you, please don't read this blog


Please, please, believe me C. when I say that just because I let it slip today that I have a blog doesn't mean you should read it.  And I ask you not to read it only because I want what is best for you.  Because this blog is terrible!  The humour is frequently juvenile and more frequently just disgusting.  How disgusting?  Well, let me put it this way - I am probably the only person in Adelaide who has ever been banned from a drunken game of Cards Against Humanity for being too revolting.  And I managed to do that just using what was already written on the cards.  I didn't add anything in crayon.

And the design, or lack of it, is also horrible.  I purposely chose this bilious green colour in an attempt to cause pain to the Ukrainian spambots that are the main viewers of this site.  And a lot of the content is half-bottomed at best and a lot was written years ago when I had no idea what I was writing.  So, not that different from the stuff I write now. 

Anyway, you have been warned.

And if F. wants to read it?  Yeah, he can go ahead.  It's probably best to find out his tolerance levels ahead of time.  


Tuesday, February 02, 2016

Crash Not A Bandicoot

I see some people are complaining about the reintroduction of dingos into Victoria. What are they worried about? Only babies are afraid of dingos.

For very good reasons.

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Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Bill, Herald Of Baptopia.


Sunday, December 20, 2015

Edward Teller Was A Grumpy Old Feller Who Could Blow You Under The Table

Edward Teller was a grumpy old feller,
Who some considered unstable,
Said Oppenheimer could be finer,
At the hearing table.

Thought nothing wrong with a hydrogen bomb,
At Port Hope Alaska,
Wanted nuclear bombs to get oil from,
The tar sands in Alberta,

Told Israel how not to fail,
At building nukes for a bomber,
Had a heart attack, his composture cracked,
And he blamed it on Jane Fonda. 

Thought nukes in space would win the arms race,
Was very fond of the Gipper,
His claims inflated, he exagerated,
Because his lips didn't come with a zipper.

Stanislaw he treated poor,
No credit did he give to he,
Since he's no more it's time to take score,
Intelligence 18  Wisdom 3. 

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Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Rise In US Mass Shootings - A Just So Story

Why do Americans shoot each other so often?  Or rather, why does a heavily armed American shoot unarmed strangers or people he hardly knows and then usually shoots himself or is killed by police or security guards or extremely rarely by an armed citizen?  And why are these incidents increasing in frequency?

Well, an obvious reason is easy access to a large number of guns.  And not just double barrelled shotguns and bolt action rifles that may only hold 4 or 5 rounds, but anti-personnel pistols and assault rifles made for the sole purpose of shooting humans.

And they have a very violent culture by developed country standards stemming from multiple sources that include the extermination of indigenous Americans and Mexicans by private citizens, dehumanizing religion, the use of fear to obtain political power, and a great deal of racism.

But guns and a violent culture don't really explain the rise in mass shootings in the United States this century and facial explanations such as computer games don't really ring true.  Almost every American male child plays violent computer games, but very few go on to commit mass shootings.  And if it was that simple then I think that back in the days when most children lived on farms, boys regularly slaughtering and shooting real live animals would have had more of an effect.  

So I gathered some thoughts I've had over the years and put them down into a "just so" story.  I don't believe this story is correct.  Especially now that I've organized my thoughts and written them down and had time to reflect on them.  And if any of it is correct it's only part of the "true" story.  The only real policy  recommendation you could pull from this would boil down to don't let people get alienated, but if you do, by god, don't let them get their hands on guns.


Jets Jumping Sharks

Forty years ago it was common for young men to be members of a gang. It didn’t really matter how socially maladjusted one was, a gang would typically take you on as a member based simply on your ethnicity, locality, class, or ability to own a motorbike. This was simply because each new recruit strengthened a gang in relation to other gangs. While a person might be low in a gang’s hierarchy, each and every member was useful and valued provided they were loyal to the gang and not cowards when it came to a fight. Provided a person had the ability to engage in violence there was a place for them. There were no losers in a gang.
Gang culture no longer exists for many American young males, particularly white ones. Instead of gangs vying for rep there is now an individualistic winner takes all culture where socially maladjusted males can end up as complete losers at the bottom of the social order with no gang membership to give them support or a place or make them feel valued. And when these individuals lash out violently the results can be horriffic.
Gang culture was the cause of a great deal of violence and crime. That’s the reason why it has been broken down and removed to such an extent. However, while a youth with a prospensity for violence could earn themselves a high status position in a gang, they would also find their violence reigned in and channeled by other members. There would be rules to be followed and even when extreme violence was committed on rival gang members attempts would be made to limit harm to bystanders because it would otherwise be detrimental to the gang as a whole.
This is one reason why we generally don’t see African Americans perpetrating mass shootings. Firstly, they are on average exposed to more gang culture and even those that have little or nothing to do with it are still part of a discriminated against minority with an outside enemy to struggle against – racism – and are automatically members of group united in struggle which gives them a place and value. I am not suggesting that the camaraderie that can be found in oppression compensates for it, but there is strength to be found in adversity.
Religious mass murder is a little different. In this case there are basically gangs where status is earned by suicidal acts of extreme violence. It is self defeating, but can be extremely damaging to those who become points on a dead murder’s scoreboard and those left behind.
- See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/12/what-is-the-best-theory-for-the-rise-in-mass-shootings.html#comments
Forty years ago it was common for young men to be members of a gang. It didn’t really matter how socially maladjusted one was, a gang would typically take you on as a member based simply on your ethnicity, locality, class, or ability to own a motorbike. This was simply because each new recruit strengthened a gang in relation to other gangs. While a person might be low in a gang’s hierarchy, each and every member was useful and valued provided they were loyal to the gang and not cowards when it came to a fight. Provided a person had the ability to engage in violence there was a place for them. There were no losers in a gang.
Gang culture no longer exists for many American young males, particularly white ones. Instead of gangs vying for rep there is now an individualistic winner takes all culture where socially maladjusted males can end up as complete losers at the bottom of the social order with no gang membership to give them support or a place or make them feel valued. And when these individuals lash out violently the results can be horriffic.
Gang culture was the cause of a great deal of violence and crime. That’s the reason why it has been broken down and removed to such an extent. However, while a youth with a prospensity for violence could earn themselves a high status position in a gang, they would also find their violence reigned in and channeled by other members. There would be rules to be followed and even when extreme violence was committed on rival gang members attempts would be made to limit harm to bystanders because it would otherwise be detrimental to the gang as a whole.
This is one reason why we generally don’t see African Americans perpetrating mass shootings. Firstly, they are on average exposed to more gang culture and even those that have little or nothing to do with it are still part of a discriminated against minority with an outside enemy to struggle against – racism – and are automatically members of group united in struggle which gives them a place and value. I am not suggesting that the camaraderie that can be found in oppression compensates for it, but there is strength to be found in adversity.
Religious mass murder is a little different. In this case there are basically gangs where status is earned by suicidal acts of extreme violence. It is self defeating, but can be extremely damaging to those who become points on a dead murder’s scoreboard and those left behind.
- See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/12/what-is-the-best-theory-for-the-rise-in-mass-shootings.html#comments
Forty years ago it was common for young men to be members of a gang. It didn’t really matter how socially maladjusted one was, a gang would typically take you on as a member based simply on your ethnicity, locality, class, or ability to own a motorbike. This was simply because each new recruit strengthened a gang in relation to other gangs. While a person might be low in a gang’s hierarchy, each and every member was useful and valued provided they were loyal to the gang and not cowards when it came to a fight. Provided a person had the ability to engage in violence there was a place for them. There were no losers in a gang. 
 
Gang culture no longer exists for many American young males, particularly white ones. Instead of gangs vying for rep there is now an individualistic winner takes all culture where socially maladjusted males can end up as complete losers at the bottom of the social order with no gang membership to give them support or a place or make them feel valued. And when these individuals lash out violently the results can be horrific.

Gang culture was the cause of a great deal of violence and crime. That’s the reason why it has been broken down and removed to such an extent. However, while a youth with a prospensity for violence could earn themselves a high status position in a gang, they would also find their violence reigned in and channeled by other members. There would be rules to be followed and even when extreme violence was committed on rival gang members attempts would be made to limit harm to bystanders because it would otherwise be detrimental to the gang as a whole.

This is one reason why we generally don’t see African Americans perpetrating mass shootings. Firstly, they are on average exposed to more gang culture and even those that have little or nothing to do with it are still part of a discriminated against minority with an outside enemy to struggle against – racism – and are automatically members of group united in struggle which gives them a place and value. I am not suggesting that the camaraderie that can be found in oppression compensates for it, but there is strength to be found in adversity.

Religious mass murder is a little different. In this case there are basically gangs where status is earned by suicidal acts of extreme violence. It is self defeating, but can be extremely damaging to those who become points on a dead murder’s scoreboard and those left behind.


Forty years ago it was common for young men to be members of a gang. It didn’t really matter how socially maladjusted one was, a gang would typically take you on as a member based simply on your ethnicity, locality, class, or ability to own a motorbike. This was simply because each new recruit strengthened a gang in relation to other gangs. While a person might be low in a gang’s hierarchy, each and every member was useful and valued provided they were loyal to the gang and not cowards when it came to a fight. Provided a person had the ability to engage in violence there was a place for them. There were no losers in a gang.
Gang culture no longer exists for many American young males, particularly white ones. Instead of gangs vying for rep there is now an individualistic winner takes all culture where socially maladjusted males can end up as complete losers at the bottom of the social order with no gang membership to give them support or a place or make them feel valued. And when these individuals lash out violently the results can be horriffic.
Gang culture was the cause of a great deal of violence and crime. That’s the reason why it has been broken down and removed to such an extent. However, while a youth with a prospensity for violence could earn themselves a high status position in a gang, they would also find their violence reigned in and channeled by other members. There would be rules to be followed and even when extreme violence was committed on rival gang members attempts would be made to limit harm to bystanders because it would otherwise be detrimental to the gang as a whole.
This is one reason why we generally don’t see African Americans perpetrating mass shootings. Firstly, they are on average exposed to more gang culture and even those that have little or nothing to do with it are still part of a discriminated against minority with an outside enemy to struggle against – racism – and are automatically members of group united in struggle which gives them a place and value. I am not suggesting that the camaraderie that can be found in oppression compensates for it, but there is strength to be found in adversity.
Religious mass murder is a little different. In this case there are basically gangs where status is earned by suicidal acts of extreme violence. It is self defeating, but can be extremely damaging to those who become points on a dead murder’s scoreboard and those left behind.
- See more at: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2015/12/what-is-the-best-theory-for-the-rise-in-mass-shootings.html#comments

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Sunday, November 22, 2015

Wernher Von Braun - The Most Amazing Man That Ever Born

 With not any where near enough apologies to John Bird and his song, Amazing Man:


Wernher, Wernher, Wernher Von Braun,
The most amazing man that ever born,
He the hub, the center, the eye of the storm,
Wernher, Wernher, Wernher Von Braun.

If in orbit you want men,
First you make weapons of revenge,
If your plane it not reach London,
You gotta make a flying bomb!

The V-1, the V-2, the ICBM,
Only the first two hit London,
You grab him, you take him, before the Russian,
For V-1, the V-2, and ICBM.

I want man to explore de sky,
And so 9,000 Dutch and British die,
But what I not mention much deese days,
Is we also kill 12,000 slaves!

Wernher, Wernher, Wernher Von Braun,
The most amazing man that ever born,
He the hub, the center, the eye of the storm,
Wernher, Wernher, Wernher Von Braun.

I know I sound bad, but that not de case,
Not my fault I part of master race,
It don't matter you say, "Never again",
If you born me, you do de same!

Wernher, Wernher, Wernher go free,
The most blamless man you ever see,
He the mother, the father, the fuhrer of rocketry,
You rocket Iraq, so you can't judge he.

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Saturday, November 21, 2015

Bond Is Back! From Queensland With Love!


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Friday, November 20, 2015

Coal-0! Cooooooaaallllllll-O!

Coal-0!  Cooooooaaallllllll-O!
Daylight come but no collier be here,
Coal, me say coal, me say coal, me say coal,
Me say coal, me say coal-O.
Daylight come but no collier be here.

Robot mine while I sit on bum,
Chinese collier for coal no come,
Stack de carbon till de collier come,
Bear chase coal price watch him run.

Come Mister collier, carry way me carbon,
Daylight come but no collier be here.
Coal so old no more oxidation, 
Coal get cold while sitting in de sun.

Fifty mega, hundred mega, two fifty megatonne fall!
Chinese coal consumption he hit wall,
Balance sheet he looking appalled,
Collier no come no coal get hauled.

A beautiful bunch of fossilised tree,
Morning come but no collier for me,
Hide the deadly climate change!
Daylight come and de world look strange.


A little background:  World coal consumption peaked in 2013.  Seabourne coal prices are now two fifths what they were at their height in early 2011.  In 2015 total Chinese coal consumption may be down 250 million tonnes from its peak.  A collier is a bulk transport ship for carrying coal.

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Monday, November 16, 2015

In case of mouse, break glass.


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Sunday, November 08, 2015

"Don't give me that realism crap, Cooper! I paid for your pretty face and I'm going to show your pretty face!"

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